Formats: Print, audio, digital

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Son

Genre:  Ghosts & Hauntings, Mystery, Occult

Audience: Adult

Diversity: Black author and main character, bisexual main character, Korean-American side character

Takes Place in: Texas

Content Warnings (Highlight to view): Alcohol Abuse, Amputation, Child Death, Death, Drug Use/Abuse, Forced Captivity, Gore, Kidnapping, Mental Illness, Police Harassment, Racism, Self-Harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence

Private investigator Shyla has just finished a case for a man named Massimo Dante, who thought he was the antichrist. He paid her well enough that she was able to buy herself a house and help her cousins out financially. She doesn’t need to accept billionaire Sexton Braith’s case, but curiosity gets the better of her. Braith wants Shyla to determine why he’s immortal, which his trusted chauffer, Remy, demonstrates by shoving a fire poker through his skull. Thoroughly freaked out, Shyla is ready to turn him down. Yet, Braith implies he knows her biggest secret–that she killed a man when she was young–and will bring it to light if she doesn’t help him. Little does Shyla know that Braith is hiding his own, much darker, secrets.

I was instantly hooked by the premise for Dead First. I’m a sucker for horror mysteries. While the first half of the book felt a bit slow for my taste, the pace really picks by the midpoint, and each reveal feels more horrific than the last. What starts out as a supernatural mystery eventually morphs into full blown horror. Interesting to note, Dead First seems to take place in the same world as Compton’s Bram Stoker Award nominated novel The Spite House, as there’s a passing reference to The Spite House at the very end of the book.

I liked how Shyla was more morally ambiguous than most protagonists. She’s willing to do some pretty messed up stuff for the ones she loves and to protect her secret. She’s driven by revenge and you can tell her anger is poisoning her, but she’s unwilling to let go of it. Shyla has trouble opening up to others and past experiences have hardened her. This is part of why she broke up with her girlfriend, Jinh. Shyla’s relationship with Jinh is complicated, to say the least. The two clearly still care for each other, but Shyla seems scared to get too close. Shyla first met her ex when she went on Jinh’s podcast, a blend of true crime and supernatural lore that has fans all over the world. Jinh has the ability to speak to the dead, though Shyla doesn’t really believe in Jinh’s power. While I liked Jinh, I felt like her character could have used more development.

I appreciated how the racism in the book is very subtle. You’re not hit over the head with it, but it’s there, hinted at and never outright stated.  For example, Shyla is always concerned about being harassed by the police. If you are a non-Black person who was somehow in a coma all through 2020, or just completely unaware of how cops treat Black people, you might not pick up on it. But it’s obvious Shyla must worry about cops and the busybodies who call them because she’s Black, even if it’s never spelled out for the audience. I liked that Dead First doesn’t feel like it’s written for non-Black people to learn about the horrors of racism. Instead, it assumes the reader is already aware of the systemic racism Black people deal with every day and Compton doesn’t have to delve in to it because it’s not part of the story. As much as I appreciate racism as horror stories, it’s also nice to read Black stories that aren’t focused on racism and Black trauma. Shyla does have trauma, but it has nothing to do with her race (other than the police not working as hard to find a missing Black child).

While the book initially feels more like a supernatural mystery thriller than straight horror, there’s still plenty of gore and some genuinely frightening moments in the second half of the book.  I personally enjoyed it, but I can see the mystery crowd being turned off by the violence and torture, while horror fans may not want to wait through the detective procedural parts of the story to get to the scary stuff. But I believe readers will enjoy the tense, haunted atmosphere, one of the story’s strongest points.

 

 

Tags: Adult, African American, Asian, Asian American, BIPOC, Bisexual, Black, Book Review, Ghosts/Haunting, Korean, Korean-American, LGBTQIA, Mystery, Occult, Own Voices, Recommended